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Saturday, August 17, 2013

All these life conveniences are not really a convenience because they clutter up your house. This is true to me. I am every day working into finding a place for everything, so there is nothing random sitting on my counters or anywhere in my house. I just don't like messes. Period.

In the past [almost] two years, I have been trying to figure out a place for all these kitchen electrics I have. I thought, stuffing them in random places all over the house was a good fix until I stubbed my toe for the 500th time with the bread machine that is sitting on the floor of my walk-in closet the other day. Then, I had to finally put my [screaming in pain] foot down and do something about this storage problem.

Now, let me make something clear, we do not lack places to store stuff. We just haven't done anything to any of our storage spaces, including my walk-in closet, to make them work for us... until the past weekend.

I hate showing before photos but here's our utility closet. It's shameful and sad. I don't know why I waited so long to address this.

And here's what it looked like after three days of painting, scrubbing and $40 worth of materials...

We had pretty much everything we needed to get this project done except for the 1" x 12" boards that we used for shelving. This room will be a work in progress for a while but I am just happy that I will not be stubbing my toe in my closet anymore or searching for hours trying to remember whether something is in the attic, in the storage building in the old house, or buried in the coat closet.

I am thankful I have a husband who understands my woes and knows how to do things and is not scared to learn new stuff and help me make all these crazy ideas of mine come to fruition... as long as I don't ask him to paint. lol That room needed a good paint job. I don't really know when it was painted last.

Sorry about the quality of some of the photos, they are all taken with my phone and posted on Instagram. I painted the laundry room the same grey I painted my kitchen. It is called Silverplate from Sherwin Williams in Cashmere. I love the creamy low luster finish on it, the washability and durability too. I used SW Daffodil on the stencil work.

I got the stencil way back in the fall from Cutting Edge Stencil it's called Cassablanca All Over. It is easy to do but not really if you are impatient. I love the results I got, but the odds of me doing this again in my house is pretty slim unless it is the only way to go. It is very meticulous and time consuming. Your hard work does pay off though!

Then we applied these pieces that will hold up the shelves and carry the weight. I did have to kind of do a little bit of work on the edges of them. They looked a little crazy.

That's my husband, John [above] painting the wall braces. He did have to paint to give me a break from stenciling. How chivalrous! :)

This is the right corner. I did order some organizers for my baking sheets and cake pans. They won't just be sitting there looking like they do in the photo very long. I promise.

And of course, I had to make sure there is space for the Margaritaville essentials on the very top shelf... Although they aren't all up there yet!

We are still working on making the bottom part more efficient. We definitely need some storage bins. One really good buy is the new light that replaced the ceiling fan. I wanted to DIY the lighting but I just didn't want to mess with it any longer. I just wanted this part done so I can move on to overhauling my kitchen next.

I do have to say that tackling this closet has emptied the kitchen island, all of my tall cabinets, and a couple bottom cabinets in my kitchen. Woot! I hated it every time I needed a stock pot and I had to pull out 10 different pans out to get to it. Now, I don't have to do that anymore!

Also, I am an out of sight out of mind kind of girl. If I don't see it, it never gets used. This is why my house is organized where [if I could help it] I could see everything at a glance. Check out my kitchen here.

I used to have trouble keeping track of how much pasta, sugar, flour, chocolate chips or coffee I had because they were all crammed in a cabinet so I kept buying them every time I feel like a craving to make pasta or bake or cook comes around. Then I would end up with piles and piles of the same thing. So my husband came up with this solution. Why not make everything be where I could see everything. And since then, we saved a lot of money and trips to the store because I knew what I had and I can see it from where I plan and prep meals.

The new craftroom is taking a cleaner approach since it is in the very front of our current house. It is the first thing you see as you walk in to the foyer. I don't want it to look too messy because it does get messy in there from all the work that I do. It's all about pretty storage solutions, really.

It's just exciting that my utility closet has been finally addressed and is now making good sense.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Hey all! I am back and ready to show you what all has been going on here in the past couple of weeks. It's been kind of crazy around here with my friends' [Chris and Julie] wedding coming up in about two weeks plus the stuff we have been working on in the house.

I am pretty pumped about this really easy makeover that we did in my craft room. It's the best birthday gift so far! My husband is a giver, he would give me the moon if I asked for it. He is wonderful and awesome and is crazy enough to buy into my ideas.

He was expecting for this whole makeover to cost $500 or maybe a little bit more. But guess what happens in March? ALL GOOD THINGS! Yes, indeed. The week after my birthday, we both spent our days comparing prices for materials online. We knew we needed 2 15-inch base cabinets, and a 30-inch base + a 10 ft countertop. I was scoping the internet for coupon codes, printable coupons whatever I could scrounge to lower the cost because even if we had the money for this makeover, we weren't going to be dumb and be letting good deals slip through our fingers. We were better than that!

Enter a friend of ours who has decided to remodel her kitchen. She comes and tells me that she got a few cabinet pieces from Menards who was having a spring sale and the cabinets are on sale too. I got online and went to their website and found out this makeover was gonna cost half the price we were planning on spending. That night, John and I ordered what we needed and the next day, with a truck and trailer in tow headed to Menards to pick up the goods! :) Even the people at the store were pretty surprised how cheap it all cost. They kept asking John if that was really all he paid for the stuff over and over!

Anyway, we got them home and got to work after doing our happy dance... [you don't want to see that!] Here's John measuring how much we were going to take off from the countertop. I think this was the same night we bought the cabinets. lol It doesn't take much to get him on work mode. Just buy him the goods!

This was me the next day. John loves building and cutting and using his power tools... but he doesn't like to paint. Thank God I don't mind painting! :) The bookshelves on each end of the counter we got for free from John's parents. They were detached parts of this gigantic entertainment center that they weren't using anymore.

I have painted so much in the past year and a half, I think I can paint with my eyes closed. These cabinets and bookshelves were nothing to do. I was armed and ready. I used Zinsser's Cover Stain [oil-based primer] and Sherwin Williams Dover White because I had it in hand and I wanted the whole thing to match the trim all over the house to make it look like it was there forever. :)

The insides of the bookshelves I painted that crazy pink at first. I thought it was going to grow on me. Sadly, it didn't. I found a sample can I had purchased a few months ago while I was deciding what to paint our guest bedroom. It's a dark teal and when I rolled that on there, I just knew it was meant to be.

It took a good four to five days to get everything painted and get the paint to cure. This process takes so much patience. Take my advice, give the paint time to set and cure, otherwise, it will start chipping and peeling and cracking soon as you start using your cabinets.

I cringed every time I walked into the mess! But I had to keep myself from slapping on a new coat of paint until the previous coat has dried. I just didn't want to be making repairs before I could start enjoying my space!

Here's John [above] helping me put the doors back on! I was so excited. Then we went to the home store to pick up some essentials. We picked up cabinet pulls, cabinet pull alignment guides, and the power hub on my counter. These didn't cost much.

The guides cost us about $6. They made installing the cabinet pulls a breeze. He had all 10 pulls installed in less than 20 minutes! :)

While he was doing what he was doing, I was on the other side of the room, working on this to give to his parents the next day. It was going to be their 41st wedding anniversary. I made this print a long long time ago. I just kept forgetting to get it done for them.

This is the power hub from Le Grand that John picked up for me at the Home Depot. It took him but a few minutes to install it on my counter. The guy has tools coming out of his ears. So this was pretty easy. He also put a whole on the other side of the countertop so I can have access to the outlet underneath. My Silhouette machine is now sitting comfortably by it. The goal was for me to not to have to climb under the cabinets to plug anything in. He gave me all the comforts I needed! :)

And here she is again!

The cabinets are pretty much empty. I am slowly going through my stuff and have purged and have been organizing for days now... and I keep finding more as I go. This is going to take awhile. I just need to keep going until I get to the end of this process so I can forge on to the other projects that John and I have going on. We have a couple other projects going on right now that we are trying to finish. We never sit down. Never.

Here's what's in the bottom of the bookshelf on the right.

Here's what's in the bottom of the left bookshelf. :) My fabric stash has a home now!!!

See, this one cabinet has nothing in it. Not sure why the iron is in it either! lol

This is as far as I got with the middle cabinet. I have old kits on this paper tower.

This is the drawer on the far right. It has my thank you cards, camera straps, sewing machine pedal, and i don't know what else in it. lol

But... my most favorite part is the 10 feet of workspace! :)

Excuse the messy desk. It's Project Life time around here. I still can't get over the fact that we finally did what we always wanted for this room! This is going to be a work in progress for a while, given I do have some of my stuff stored in closets all over the house. Speaking of closets, my walk-in closet is next on the list. John has a mild heart attack every time he walks in there. lol

Here's a close up of what's going on on this desk!

Remember when I said we never ever sit down? Last night John and I were in here admiring the progress this room is taking, we found that we don't like that armoire sitting in the corner. He thinks that the sub-floor underneath that corner is loose because the armoire wouldn't sit level. It's not way off, but if you know my husband, he gets a little over-dramatic about un-level surfaces. I know he is going to want to fix this. At the same time, he is saying that we ought to move the armoire on the other side so we can maximize the space and add like a corner desk or a place where I could cut fabric.

I think it's a brilliant idea, but for now, I just want to enjoy my space. Maybe in the fall we can revisit it and do something about this corner desk/fabric cutting area. :)

This is my most favorite spot in the world! It is mine and my ideas come to life in this room. This is where everything that is pretty that is in this house and that comes out of it is made.

I am so thankful that I have a husband who understands the importance of having personal space and a place where I could be me, no holds barred, make messes and not worry about the paint splatters on my desk or my stuff. Most importantly, I don't have to craft from totes, bins and share a space with John anymore [he does have a pretty rad music room by the way that I put together for him! So don't be fooled by his puppy eyes! lol] He also is in the process of putting his very own techy home recording studio together so he isn't doing too bad.

I love that this room has a window that faces west. I get to watch the sun set every single day in here. I love the warmth it brings in. I just love windows and natural light, period. It's the only way I would photograph anything.

So there you go, folks. I hope you enjoyed your trip to my craft room. :)

Monday, March 25, 2013

... I am in the process of adding more storage and work space in my craft room.

... While one room is getting all fixed up, a couple of rooms in my house are getting all junked up because I had to pull some stuff out of my craft room to have some floor space to work in there.

The eat-In part of my kitchen all loaded up with stuff

Part of our living room

Even the foyer is not exempted

... I am a germ-o-phobe. Notice the bottles of anti-bacterial cleaners all over the house? I only become this crazy person during the cold seasons when the flu virus is hovering.

... There is no crafting in my craft room at the moment and it is really killing me. But like a good sport, I am thinking positive and I am thinking, it has to get worse before it gets better. *winks*

... Even in the middle of this huge mess, my heart is full. I am very grateful for all the good things even for the not-so-good things that have happened and are happening in our lives [John and I both].

... As all this work is going on, I am also seeking God's guidance and wisdom regarding the direction I am supposed to go with my ministry.

... Life is good. I am putting all kinds of energy into my house, making it all pretty and ready for spring. So come the warm months, I can enjoy being outside and bask in the sunshine. I am also looking forward to opening our pool.

... I am not quite liking the fact that it is cold and it snowed all day yesterday and all night, because it is spring after all, but I am thankful at the same time because I do have a lot of work to finish inside. The snowmageddon has bought me some time. *winks*

... I am/we are so thankful for everyone that we have been blessed with. We truly are very blessed, if not spoiled. We have the best family and the very best friends.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Time is flying by so fast. My birthday was here before I could establish a really strong birthday wishlist!!! I was just talking to my Mom-In-Law about looking at a few brands of bread machines, and then a few days later, the bread machine I had my heart set on shows up at my door [from her and my Dad-In-Law] because I am not a very spoiled girl. No, not at all. *winks*

Seems like it wasn't a long time ago when John re-did one of the bedrooms in our old house and turned it into a craft room for me for my anniversary gift. This year, he is building some more for my craft room in our new house for my birthday. :) Seems to me like we keep starting over, but we also keep upgrading. Each time we start, it is always some place better.

Around this time each year, John and I are usually building a list of things to do in the spring all the way up to the fall. This year, however, there isn't much to do. At least not anything major. It's all little things here and there, but knowing my Husband, one of these projects we got planned is going to turn into a major makeover.

I cannot wait to get this wall filled up with storage. This is the current state of my craft room. There has been a lot of activity here lately, so I don't even bother to do much of putting away, just until our friends, Chris and Julie get married in April. I am kind of helping them with some stuff for the wedding, plus all the other crafting and sewing that I do here.

John is getting ready to put a built-in on this wall so I can put away pretty much all of what you see on the floor. There's not a lot, everything else is put away, so this 13.5 feet built-in storage unit will come in very handy when he's done with it. This is #1 on my birthday wishlist and I am getting it in the next couple of weeks! I am very excited.

It will also add some work surface, which would be fabulous! Don't get me wrong, I love the gigantic desk he built for me last summer. However, at this point in my life I just don't paper craft anymore. I make pretty much everything. I sew, I take pictures, I make home decor, and not just for me anymore either. I have friends that come over and play in here every so often. This room gets more traffic than my kitchen does and my kitchen is pretty darn busy all the time, given there is always something baking or cooking in there or a cake or cupcakes are being decorated there constantly.

Enter this hutch...

We got this hutch years ago. It looked really good in the past few houses we've lived in, but it isn't looking too hot in my current kitchen. This is why it's been sitting here empty for a couple of weeks. I can't quite convince myself that I like it or I want to keep it at all. The only thing that is keeping me from taking an axe and destroying this thing is the fact that it is built good. It is an antique. So I am spending a couple of warm days to get it to my liking, otherwise, it is out the door.

This armoire on the other hand is a keeper. This used to house our computer, it is now the house for my die cutting machines, my wireless printer and other things I don't use all the time. I am not sure if I want to re-do it yet, we'll see...

I am tackling this wall very soon. The canvas print is going to be finished too.

Lots of little things on my to-do list. Here's hoping it warms up soon so I can finish all of them and I can fly out of here for a while and visit some really important people who I haven't seen in a few years.

Speaking of wanting to see some people, this year for my birthday, I decided I would shut my facebook timeline posting down. I love social media. I connect with a lot of my family and friends there. While it is true that you can connect with people there, it is also the most impersonal place to hang out at. Although I know that there are people that love me and vise versa on there, there also people on there who just say things just because it is easy, not because they mean what they say.

So this year, I made sure nobody can post HAPPY BIRTHDAY on my timeline... and it was awesome!!! One, my phone didn't blow up from all the happy birthdays. Two, my timeline didn't get flooded with greetings from people I don't normally talk to. Three, all the people that really care, found a way to get a hold of me and didn't grumble because they couldn't post on my timeline.

It's crazy how I say it is the most impersonal place to hang out at but people take everything that they read or see on there very personal and get upset about things that most of the time have nothing to do with them.

This year, I promised to myself to make it a point see or personally talk to all the people I love. I am not quitting facebook, however, it won't be my major hang out, it never was in the first place. There is more to life than staring at our computers all day and creeping on other people's facebook pages. Make something pretty. Get a hobby. Learn to do something. Go outside and enjoy the sunshine. As for me, I am going to visit the ones I haven't seen in forever... because seeing pictures of them on facebook just doesn't quite do the job! :)